Lacing-closure



A. BALTHAS'AR.

LACING CLOSURE. APPLICATION FILED AUG.13, 192l- Patented m. 1921.

ARTHUR BALT'HASAR, OF MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY.

LACING-CLOS'URE.

Specification of Letters Eatent. Patented Dec. 6, 1921.

Application filed August 13, 1921. Serial No. 491,920.

1 '0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, ARTHUR BALTHasAR, a citizen of the United States, and resldent of Montclair, in the county of Essexand State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lacing- Closures, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to lacing devices of the type in which the opening is laced or unlaced without the necessity of threading the string through eyelets, the string being secured to lugs, slidably engaging channel-members secured adjacent the edges of the opening. In the present case, I have illustrated the invention as applied to a shoe, but it will be obvious that it can be used on other articles of wearing apparel, as for instance, on skirt plackets or on cor,- sets, and also for other quite dissimilar articles, as for instance lacing for tents, sails, covers for spare tires on automobiles, etc.

Various forms of sliding lacing have heretofore been proposed, but so far as I am aware allof them have proved impracticable for one reason or another, and the purpose of my invention is to provide a durable, fool-proof, yet flexible channel in which the lugs may slide, in combination with lugs that cannot stick or become cooked in the channel.

A minor object of my invention is to arrange the channel and lugs so that a worn or broken string can be instantly removed and a new one put in place.

The above andother features of my invention may be more fully understood from the following description in connection with the accompanyingdrawing, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the general relation of the parts of my improved lacing as applied to a shoe. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail section on the line 2 2, Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail plan view of one of the channel strips.

Fig. 4 is a magnified perspective view showing one of the lugs as applied to a string.

Fig. 5 is a magnified plan view showing the geometrical relations of the lug with respect to the channel in which it slides.

In Fig. 1 wherethe device is'shown as applied to a shoe, the cooperating parts are the vamp 1, upper 2, 3, and tongue 4. The opening between 2 and 3 which :is to be laced has similar channel strips 5, 6, secured adjacent the opposite margins.

For a shoe lacing, the conditions .to be fulfilled by the channel strips are exacting,

in that the strips must be very flexible 1011- gitudinally, yet accurately maintaining a practically unflexed cross sectional shape. For many other purposes the conditions are not so exacting, so that it will not be necessary to employ all of the special features of construction which I have found desirable for a shoe lacing, but the virtues of the several novel featuresmay be best understood by describing them in combination.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, the channel strip will be seen to comprise a thin spring steel strip 7, which is very flexible in the direction of its thinness and which is wide .enough to oppose edgewise flexing. This members 8, separately secured in rigid aline- Y ment, each by two rivets 9, 9. The channelmembers comprise shank portions 10 through which the rivets are secured and reversely bent channel portions 11, having inwardly bent flange portions 12, terminatthe shank 14, which is secured to the string 15 by the bent over portion or eye 16. Preferably, the. flanges 12 are recurved inwardly to a slight extent and the front faces of heads slightly under-cut, so that these parts have a somewhat hooking engagement. This will permit the flanges to withstand considerable strain without having an upward wedging action on the ends of the channelstrips 8. 1

As indicated in Fig. 3, the channel members 8 are spaced apart at 17 sufliciently to permit a maximum flexing of strip 7 without bringing the adjacent edges of the channel members into pinching engagement, forcibly enough to cause displacement such as would deform the channel and prevent sliding of the lugs.

The assembled channel strip above described, and as shown in Fig. 3, is secured pearance indicated in Fig. 1.

adjacent to the edge of the upper 2 by rivets 18, there being preferably one rivet for each channel-member 8. The rear half of the strip, up to the channel part, may be covered and the face of the upper made flush or nearly flush with the top surfaces of the channels, by havingthe edge of the upper extend beyond rivet 18, as indicated at 2 Fig. 2, thus giving the finished ap- If desired, the wearer may be protected from plate 7 by a shoe lining 20, but it will be understood that 20 may be omitted or 20 may be itself the upper of the shoe. The lining 20 is preferably continued around the end of the bottom of the lacing opening and the end 7 of plate 7 is secured between it and the vamp, so that the lastchannel member 8 fits against the vamp, thereby closing the lower end of the channel.

The sliding head 13 is preferably of steel and its dimensions with reference to the widths of the channel sections 8, measured lengthwise of the strip, are a feature of my invention.

While considerable variationis permissible and while the device remains operative for wide variations in the proportions of these parts, a relation somewhat as shown in Fig. 5, will be found of particular advantage.

In Fig. 5, the head 13 is shown as having a length of approximately one and a half times the distance between the cracks 17between the channel sections, and preferably also about one and a half times the front to rear width of the channel; also the front faces are rounded off toward the ends as at 33, and the rear faces correlatively rounded off as at 34.. I These precise dimen sions are desirable but the important features are making the lugs substantially narrower than the channel, and substantially longer than the joints between channelmembers, and having the front and rear faces rounded off so that, in the extreme cocked position, fair sliding surfaces 33, 34, are presented for contact on the front and rear of the channel; and,finally, pro-.

portion the parts so that, in the extreme cocked position, the edges of the eye 16 cannot catch in the cracks 17. All the edges of the lug, shank, and'eye, as also of channel pieces 8, may be rounded off by rolling them in a tumbler with suitable abrasive powder.

The above described channel strips and lugs be used in combination with any kind of a single or double string as desired, and may be anchored at the ends or any desired points along the slots in any desired wav, but the way shown in Fig. 1 has certain advantages. string is the conventional type of double lacing, having the lugs secured to the two In this figure the legs of the string so that they'will come opposite each other. To apply the string to the shoe it is only necessary to slide the successive lugs into the open upper ends of the respective channels, beginning with the two lugs nearest the center of the string. When the lugs are in place the center of the string may be hooked over an ordinary shoe hook 24 which may be secured either on or under the vamp in well-known ways. The lugs, all being in the lowermost position the shoe may be put on the foot in the usual way and the lacing accomplished by merely pulling on the ends of the string 15. At the upper end the strings may be secured in any desired way as by a single pair of shoe books 25, 25, being then tied as usual.

WVhen the hooks are used at 25, the shoe be removed without untying the string merely by unhooking from one and 'then the other of the hooks 25 and simply pushing down on the lugs, the string, of course, being relaxed in proportion as thelugs are pushed down. j

It will be evident that for some of the purposes above described inferior materials and wide variations of shape and proportion are possible without seriously impairing the usefulness of the device for the purpose in view.

While I have shown a double string reproducing a conventional criss-cross arrangement commonly employed. on shoes, it

will be evident thata single length of string may be employed, using either the same number of lugs now shown for a single string,or, doubling the number, if desired. Moreover, for oertaln uses, part cularly where the slot does not have to have an ad- .justable width of closure, the lugs may be double headed, opposite heads engaging opposite slots, with an integral shank connect ing them. In such case, a single string may be employed as a spacer for securing the lugs at proper distances apart, g

It will be noted that in my arrangement the channels are laterally open; that the slot through which the shank projects has the flat base strip 7 as one side thereof; that the shank of the lug is-also flat and fits flat against said base. strip 7 that this brings the line of strain very closeto the plane of base strip that the base stripis wide enough.

so that strain has substantially. no tranverse twisting orupsetting effect; and tha t the "str p proj ectsfar enough beyond the channel slot to underlie the entire lug including a shankyand'the eye whereby it is-attached to the strip and whereby the person of the wearer is protected from the lug by the slid= ing movements of the latter. /Vhere the conditions, of use are such that the opening can be completely, insteadof adjustably, closed, the projecting edges 'of opposite plate 7 may be brought into contact as near as may be desired or they may even overlap.

I claim:

1. A slidable closure comprising channel strips on opposite sides of the opening, sliding lugs in both channels and tension means connecting opposite lugs; eachsaid strip comprising a longitudinally flexible, edgewise inflexible body strip forming a flat channel member and a, multiplicity of cooperating, alined, channel forming members secured to said strip.

2. A slidable closure comprising channel strips on opposite sides of the opening, sliding lugs in both channels and tension means connecting opposite lugs; each said strip comprising a longitudinally flexible, edgewise inflexible body strip forming a flat channel member and a multiplicity of co operating, alined, channel forming members secured to said strip, each member comprising a stifl metal channel section of relatively short extent measuring lengthwise of the channel so that the body strip may flex without flexing said channel forming memher.

3. A slidable closure comprising channel strips on opposite sides of the opening, sliding lugs in both channels and tension means connecting opposite lugs; each channel strip comprising a thin, flat, longitudinally flexible member in combination with a plurality of short length inflexible channel forming members secured to said strip.

4:. A slidable closure comprising channel strips on opposite sides of theopening, sliding lugs in both channels and tension means connecting opposite lugs; each channel strip comprising a thin, flat, longitudinally flexible member in combination with a plurality of short length inflexible channel-forming members secured to said strip, said channelforming members being reversely bent to form the top and two sides of the channel with a slot opening adjacent to the body strip through which the shanks of the lugs project.

5. The closure specified by claim 4 with the further feature that the side of the channel adjacent the slot is inwardly bent and the corresponding face of the lug is undercut to afford a hooking engagement.

6. A slidable closure comprising longitudinally flexible channel strips on opposite sides of the opening, sliding lugs in both channels and tension means connecting opposite lugs, each said strip being formed with a longitudinal channel having a lateral slot through which the shanks of the lugs project, whereby the strain on the lugs is in alinement with the direction of the slot opening.

7. In the closure specified by claim 6 the further feature of having the lugs formed for hooking engagement with the channel slightly separated lengthwise of the strip.

9. The closure specified by claim 2 with the further feature that the channel mem bers are riveted to the body strip by at least two rivets located on the far side of the channel.

10. A slidable closure comprising channel strips on opposite sides of the opening, sliding lugs in both channels and tension means connecting opposite lugs; each channel strip comprising a thin, flat, longitudinally flexible member in combination with a plurality of short length inflexible channelforming members secured to said strip; said lugs having heads substantially longer than the width of one channel-forming member 11. A slidable closure comprising channelstrips on opppsite sides of the opening, sliding lugs in both channels and tension means connecting opposite lugs; each channel strip comprising a thin, flat, longitudinally flexible member in combination with a plurality of short length inflexible channel-forming members secured to said strip; said lugs having heads substantially longer than the width of one channel-forming member, and a width substantially less than the width of the channel.

12. A slidable closure comprising channel strips on opposite sides of the opening, sliding lugs in both channels and tension means connecting opposite lugs; each channel strip comprising a thin, flat, longitudinally flexible member in combination with a plurality of short length inflexible channelforming members secured to said strip; said lugs having heads substantially longer than the width of one channel-forming member and its front face longitudinally cut away or curved toward the ends.

18. A slidable closure comprising channel strips on opposite sides of the opening, sliding lugs in both channels and tension means connecting opposite lugs; each channel strip. omprising a thin, flat, longitudinally flexible member in combination with a plurality of short length inflexible channel-forming members secured to said strip;

said lugs having heads substantially longer than the width of one channel-forming member, and a width substantially less than the width of the channel and narrowed toward the ends on curves which afford sliding surfaces when the lug is in a cooked position.

1 1. A leather article of footwear of the class described having a lacing opening to. permit the insertion of the foot and a slidable closure for the opening comprising channel strips on opposite sides of the opening, sliding lugs in both channels and tension means connecting opposite lugs, each chan nel strip comprising a thin, flat, longitudinally flexible member, in combination with a. plurality of short length inflexible channel-forming members secured transversely along the upper face oi said flexiblememhers with the channel-forming portions in alineinent, the lower end of the latter member extending beyond the lowermost of the channel-forming members, beneath the vamp. i

15. The article specified by claim lt with the further feature that the last channel member is so arranged that the edge of the vamp forms a closure for the lower end of the channel.

16. A leather article of footwear of the class described having a lacing opening to permit the insertion of the toot and a slidable closure for the opening comprising channel strips on opposite sides of the opening, sliding lugs in both channels and tension means connecting opposite lugs, each channel strip comprising a thin, fiat longitudinally flexible member, in combination with a plurality of short length inflexible channel-forming members secured "transversely along the upper "face of said flexible members with the channel-forming portions in alinement, the lower end of the latter member extending beyond the lowermost of the channel-forming members, beneath the vamp, the saidchannels having their 0pen- New York and State of New York thislOth day of August, A. D. 1921.

ARTHUR BALTHASAR. 

